RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

Genetic Information and Intellectual Disability

Teams of leading UK scientists have joined forces to unlock
an untapped source of genetic information in a bid to better understand and
treat children with intellectual disability.

Experts from Cambridge, Cardiff and UCL will be given unprecedented access to
genetic information on Intellectual Disability from NHS Regional Genetics
Centres across the UK as part of a first phase of a major new MRC study.

The main objective of the IMAGINE ID project,
led by Professor David Skuse, is to gain a
better understanding of why the genetic anomalies that cause learning
disabilities lead to behavioural problems in childhood and a heightened risk of
later-developing psychiatric disorders in adolescence and adulthood.